The Likud party reacted Tuesday night to a poll published by Channel 2 News whose findings revealed that if elections were held today, the Yesh Atid party, led by Yair Lapid, would emerge with the highest number of mandates.
“There is no reason to get excited by this poll published by Channel 2. Afterall , we all remember that they predicted during the last elections that Likud would only receive 18 mandates and we saw what the results were, ” a Likud statement read. “It is clear that the poll is a direct result of the Shabbat (train) crisis which is now behind us after a High Court decision was reached.”
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According to the survey, Lapid would take 24 mandates (during the last election he received just 11) while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would trail with just 22 mandates. During the last election, Likud received 30 mandates.
“It should be remembered that all left-wing governments have formed coalitions with Haredi parties, ” the statement pointed out. “Rabin’s first government, Rabin’s second government which passed the Oslo Accords with the support of the Haredim, Ehud Barak’s government and Ehud Olmert’s government. Even under these governments no changes were made at all on the issue of state and religion.”
In an effort to ridicule Lapid, the statement went on to say, “Even Lapid, this ‘man of restored faith’ has signalled to the Haredim that he would not make any changes on this issue. Likud voters understand that Lapid is a man of the left and stands at the head of a left-wing party who would lead efforts for (territorial) withdrawal and make concessions that would risk the security of Israel.”
“Make no mistake, ” the statement concluded. “The assault on Likud is intended to do one thing—to bring about a left-wing government that, like all past governments of the left, will form coalitions with the Haredim and will not make any changes vis-a-vis religion and state but would make irreversible and dangerous concessions for Palestinians, as has already happened in the past. This is something that Likud, headed by Netanyahu, will never do.”
